Author:
Publication: Hindu Council UK
Date: February 14, 2008
URL: http://www.hinducounciluk.org/newsite/articledet.asp?rec=199
Press Release
The Hindu Council UK (HCUK) has today released
a revealing report on varnashram or the caste system, a subject HCUK says
is much misunderstood by the British media, politicians and the public. "Caste
has been the subject of ill-informed comment for too long," says HCUK
General Secretary Anil Bhanot. "Today, we are putting the record straight.
We are also naming and shaming those who spread misinformation about Hinduism
and its relationship to caste in an ill-disguised attempt to vilify the Hindu
people and cause division within our community."
The result of several months research by Dr
Raj Pandit Sharma, a member of the HCUK's Executive, the report lifts the
lid on rarely-heard Hindu perspectives on a subject assumed by most non-Hindus
to be always a gross form of unjust discrimination, an alleged feature of
Hinduism so maligned it justifies attempts by Christians to convert Hindus
here in the UK, in India, and elsewhere.
While the report acknowledges and condemns
the fact that abuse of varnashram continues in India, despite an official
ban on caste discrimination and the introduction of positive discrimination
policies to emancipate lower castes, in particular Dalits, or 'untouchables,'
it questions the existence of caste discrimination in the UK, saying no one
should be fooled by groups making allegations of such discrimination who are
seeking Government legislation and Government funds to tackle this supposed
problem.
Mr Bhanot argues in his Foreword to the report
that MPs such as Rob Marris (Wolverhampton South West) and Jeremy Corbyn (Islington
North), who are lobbying the Department of Communities and Local Government
to legislate against caste discrimination may have been "misled by Christian
groups who want, quite simply, to 'save' people from the 'falsehood' of Hinduism
and convert people to Christianity. In other words, groups who are themselves
practising prejudice and discrimination, by condemning the beliefs of those
who do not follow their religion. "
This view is shared by UK Dalits. In a Statement
prepared for inclusion in HCUK's report, the Shiri Guru Valmik Sabha in Southall,
London, says: "We resent having the word Dalit ascribed to us by the
British media and Christian missionary organisations." The Executive
adds that organisations professing to tackle caste discrimination in fact
"help create further divisions in our society." The community admits
there are problems with attitudes in the older generation, but believes inter-caste
marriages and the opportunities Britain affords to all are changing this lingering
prejudice and will finally eradicate it.
In particular, the detailed HCUK report challenges
assumptions about caste and the claims made by organisations such as CasteWatch
UK and the Dalit Solidarity Network UK, concluding that contrary to their
assertions and popular belief, caste, as described in the Hindu scriptures,
is not determined by birth. Neither, says the report, is the notion of caste
exclusive to the Hindu religion or to Indian culture.
The report also traces the spiritual and historical
roots of Caste, concluding they lie ultimately in the Indian people's need
for spiritual and cultural protection in the face of numerous invasions and
foreign rulers, most significantly by the Portuguese and the British Raj,
who then perverted the system to their own ends.
"It was the British who single-handedly
formulated the caste schedules that remain in place today," writes Dr
Raj Pandit Sharma in his report. "The evils manifest in the current form
of the caste system can not be ascribed to the Hindu faith. The current adulteration
of the Hindu varnashram system is a direct result of generations of British
Colonial bureaucracy."
The report includes quotations from Hindu
scripture in support of the concept of egalitarianism and cites many sacred
texts - respected and venerated by people of all castes - that were written
by 'Dalits,' or 'outcastes,' proving that in Hinduism, caste was never intended
to be hereditary; that no one is 'high' or 'low' by birth.
The report also highlights the hypocrisy of
those who would criticise caste in India while ignoring Britain's own social
divisions. "There are now record levels of homeless people in the UK,
who are analogous with the outcastes of Indian society," writes Dr Sharma.
He also questions the labelling of caste as analogous to apartheid:
"This comparison is as ridiculous as
it is untrue, especially given the fact these barbaric systems were born under
the shadow of slavery or indentured labour, based on the colour of one's skin,
and actually conceived and perpetrated by Europeans, not Hindus."
"It is no joke to have to ward off concerted
misinformation campaigns from UK parliamentarians who really ought to know
better," says Anil Bhanot, in his Foreword to the document, but states
he has gone through the difficult process in the hope it will alert the wider
British public to the underhand and prejudicial tactics carried out by anti-caste
propagandists.
The HCUK Caste report can be downloaded at
http://www.hinducounciluk.org/newsite/report/hcuk_thecastsystemreport.pdf